About six months ago, my sister surprised the family by announcing that she joined the Peace Corps and would be shipping out to Uganda for two years. She left in February, and she’s been doing an amazing job out there working in AIDS clinics. We’re all extremely proud of her, and talk to her every chance we can get.

But there’s one problem. Calls to Africa can get extremely expensive.

For the past few months, we’ve been using calling cards to reach my sister. But the problem with calling cards is that they hardly ever advertise international rates, let alone rates for Uganda. If we were paying 25 cents a minute, we would consider ourselves lucky.

I’ve heard of Skype before, but I never bothered trying it out. Skype is a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service. Instead of making phone calls over a landline, Skype ties into your Internet connection to deliver cheap rates. After spending a few minutes on their website, I learned all about their plans. And they are cheap:

• $36 a year for unlimited long distance calls to the U.S. and Canada
• $24 a year for a phone number of your choice
• Voicemail
• Caller ID

On top of that, international calls are a bargain compared to calling cards. When I’d be lucky to get a calling card that reached Uganda for 25 cents a minute, Skype does it for 15 cents. While 10 cents a minute might not seem like a lot in savings, it means I don’t have to shop around for a good calling card deal, and can spend more time talking to my sister.

I ordered a $100 Skype phone from Amazon that will basically act as our landline in our house. Right now, we only have cellphones, and my wife has been wanting to get a phone for the house. Considering local phone service here is $30 a month for basic service without long distance, Skype seems to be a no-brainer. The phone should be here early next week, and I can’t wait to hook it all up. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Has anyone else been using Skype? How is the quality? Are you happy with the service?